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Ordinary diners who take part in our annual survey each spring review restaurants and leave their feedback, but we also ask them to score restaurants from 1-5 on food, service and ambience. Harden’s then uses an average of these scores and measures them against other establishments in the same price bracket to arrive at the ratings published in the guide and online.

Snippets from some of your feedback may end up in the overall Harden’s review, noticeably they appear in “double quotation marks”. The rest of our pithy, bite-sized restaurant summaries are compiled by analysing the survey data and extracting recurring themes, looking at whether or not a venue was nominated in any of our categories – like ‘favourite’ or ‘most overpriced’ – and, of course, looking at the ratings for food, service and ambience.

The Harden’s ratings indicate that a restaurant is:

exceptional very good good average poor

All reviews are compiled from survey comments and ratings, without any regard for our own personal opinions, except in cases where restaurants are too new to have been included in the survey. If you want the editors’ view on new restaurants in London you can find them in our Editors’ Review section.

London London Bridge Restaurant Guide

Harden's Guides have been compiling reviews of the best restaurants in London Bridge since 1991.

Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in London London Bridge

Hardens guides have spent 29 years compiling reviews of the best London Bridge restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 19 restaurants in London Bridge and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing London Bridge restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.

“Brilliant value… market bustle… great modern menu – we love it”, declare fans of this “upmarket” wine bar with (mainly Italian) small plates – “another good option for a great tapas meal in Borough Market”. It took the name of the greengrocer who previously occupied the site.

“The view’s the thing” at this 35th-floor all-day restaurant and lounge in The Shard, with 360-degree vistas over London and the Home Counties – “including from the loos!”. Some reporters also rate the “well-presented and thoughtful menu”, which they say contributes to “a fantastic experience”. Sceptics, though, reckon the “food is so-so, service patronising, the bill eye-watering: strictly for well-heeled tourists!”.

“The kind of place you could eat at any day of the week” – this open-fronted wine bar and café stalwart looking onto Borough Market wins consistent praise for its “punchy plates”, many of them from a wood-fired oven; and “well-priced wine” (with “a good selection by the glass”)… so “invent any reason, just go”.

“Bellissimo!” – Tim Siadatan and Jordan Frieda’s Borough Market three-year-old remains one of the capital’s best options on a budget. The formula is simple: “no reservations, no frills”: just “superlative, freshly made pasta” from a “compact and great value menu”. “Arrive ultra-early to dodge the worst of the perma-queues”, although “the line moves relatively quickly, and their beeper system means you can go for a drink and come back to get your table”. In September 2019, they announced a second branch is top open on Phipp Street in Shoreditch in early 2020.

“The Gallic bistro you kept looking for on holiday in France, but never found…” – this “tiny” and “cramped” Bermondsey venue provides a “small but ever-changing menu” of “the kind of memorable, old-school, traditional regional dishes it can be hard to find in Paris these days” (“boeuf en croute with gorgeous jus, tarte tatin etc”). “Booking is a must”.

“Some of the better tacos in London” have made the Hart Bros’ “very crowded” taqueria one of the hits of Borough Market. “Really delicious, interesting flavours – you just want to try them all” – especially if “you love really hot, spicy Mexican food”. The Harts have followed up with Casa Pastór at King’s Cross (see also), Tortilleria at nearby Maltby Street, and most recently Pastorcito in the new Arcade Food Theatre at Centre Point.

“A fantastic, local pasta-and-wine restaurant” (the clue is in the name) on Bermondsey high street, which makes an excellent cheap ’n’ cheerful choice. The pasta dishes themselves are “simple”, but their realisation is “a cut-above most other pasta restaurants” and when it comes to the vino, there are 25 options by the glass (all Italian).

There’s “clear blue water between Patty & Bun and other wannabe mass burger offerings” – the only drawback is “you have to queue all the time”. Having started out as a pop-up, the small chain has grown to eight branches and two spin-offs: Smash Patty and Jefferies, a chicken specialist. The core of the offer is “burgers dripping in all the good stuff, loud tunes, friendly vibes and lots of napkins”. Top Tip – the “legendary lamb burger always makes me smile”.

“Just incredible! Every mouthful delights the tastebuds” – “punchy, powerful, memorable morsels of real food” – at this meat-centric Borough Market tapas joint, run by “people who seem interested in what they’re offering”. A “buzzing, little place under a railway arch”, it’s a “cosy” experience if sometimes a little “rushed and cramped”. The Spanish team has a second branch in Soho, likewise praised for “superb tapas, and service with style but not pomp”.